Similar to previous “highs and lows” posts, in this “part 1” I will offer some geographic/scenic elements of the last eleven weeks. The pandemic had me staying close to home regardless. But my new mobility challenges kept me very close to home. So these are my candidates for the Best Views, Best Stairs, Best Conveyance, and Best Adapted Kitchen, while healing a broken leg in downtown Ottawa:
Best Views: As I wrote in an earlier post, when I stopped the nomadic life and chose an apartment, my primary criteria was to see the sky. I appreciate the irony of feeling grounded by connecting with the sky, but it continues to work for me. On the top floor of one of the tallest buildings in Ottawa, I have a wide view of the horizon, city tree canopy, Ottawa River, Gatineau hills, and the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. I can see full rainbows, sunrises, and distant lightning, and I can catch the moon for hours. When it snows, my bay window feels like a snow globe. Birds fly by at eye level. The Snowbirds fly at eye level.
When we have rallied through the pandemic, I will look forward to sharing this view with lots of visitors!
Best Stairs: As I wrote about a year ago, I got a major haircut. A short haircut works great for thick, curly hair….if I can get it cut regularly. Otherwise, it starts to go a bit crazy, and I start to go a bit crazy. In previous years, I would have simply spent a pandemic in a constant ponytail. This year, I was getting creative with clips and bandanas as I approached 13 weeks between cuts. I was pretty motivated to get the mop chopped. In those 13 weeks, it turns out that my hair dresser moved to a new location. As the superlative suggests, her new place was not at ground level, nor did it have an elevator. It had a full, straight up flight of stairs. 22 steps. Undeterred, an appointment was made. And when the time came, and my friend gave me a lift over, thankfully it was a dry day and the steps were clear as I shuffled up on my butt. I apparently showed real commitment to getting my haircut based on comments from other staff! Just having someone else wash my hair was a treat, yet alone tame it with scissors. I asked if they had a slide for going down, but alas it hasn’t been installed yet. So butt bumping back down I went.
Best Conveyance: The day I fell was a very long day. I fell at noon. And though paramedics were there very quickly, the rest of the process took a while. I didn’t leave the hospital until after midnight. When my friend pulled up in front of my building, he helped me out of the car and I stood with my new crutches that the nurse had fitted for me. But I couldn’t move. It was partly that:
- my ‘good’ knee was okay for standing, but otherwise kind of wobbly
- I was hungry and possibly dehydrated
- I was tired
- I was scared, still processing the news of surgery ahead
- I did not have the mental focus to make the crutches work
I did though, in a moment of clarity and creativity, get an idea. My apartment building used to be a hotel. I gave my friend my keys and sent him into the lobby to get – a bellhop luggage cart. He wheeled it out, and I flopped down on it, and we smoothly proceeded into the building, to the elevator, and into my apartment. Quite a regal ending to an adventurous day!
I now have some chairs with wheels and a walker with wheels, but I know the luggage carts are there just in case!
Best Kitchen Adaptation: For the nine days between the fall and the surgery, I kept practicing with the crutches, but my ‘good’ knee didn’t have much endurance. I was on a regular schedule of Tylenol, and sleep was fitful, so I wasn’t at my best for arm-leg coordination anyway. I also had no idea what life after surgery would involve for wheelchairs, walkers, canes, etc. So I spent the week mostly on my butt, just sliding on the floor, with my left leg in a stabilizer. I certainly saw my apartment from new vantage points and I was grateful to have laminate floors. The food in my fridge was kept on the lower shelf where I could easily reach it. And gradually, “stations” were created at floor level where I could make a cup of tea and heat some soup. And each of those cups and meals was fully savoured. No rushing. No multitasking. Just sitting. It was an exciting day when I could eventually reach and use the microwave, but I hope to keep an appreciation for the stillness and slower pace of ‘floor life.’
Well, those were some situational highs and lows. More emotional ones will be coming in Part 2. Meanwhile, just to clarify – my right knee, the ‘good’ one, just needed a week’s rest, and it has been going strong ever since.
PS I had to buy a mattress when I moved in, and when I found one with a marketing video that included a curling stone, I placed an order. Why would I look any further?? It is notably thicker than I’ve had before. It magically gives me a great view of the Peace Tower right from my pillow. Here is the Endy video: